To be an EXOL…

Now your admins are two IEXOLs and the comments we are sharing are from the perspective of fellow IEXOLs…but that doesn’t make our point any less valid nor are these comments meant to alienate our fellow EXOLs native to South Korea.

I really wish I stanned EXO from the start bec some people are actually condemning newbies like me and I feel bad while reading their rants pic.twitter.com/0l7o5K3Rse

Admin Pisces: It would be nice if EXOLs could offer to help each other out if they’re flying into new countries for concerts. Like if someone needed a place to stay…we could pool money to rent a couple rooms (if they couldn’t pay for the global package or needed another place to stay for the time before/after the concerts/global package was over.

Admin Aqua: We could suggest it. I guess that’s part of the reason why I want the annual concert watch party to be an event held in a major city of each country. We pool or money and come together and get to know each other

Admin Aqua: It would strengthen our bonds as a fandom

Admin Pisces: Yes. I think some of the newer EXOLs I seem to be talking to really want the experience of not only getting to know EXO but the whole fandom too. And it feels like you kind of do it alone and maybe you’ll really make friends with someone on stan twitter or elsewhere or maybe at a concert but you might not…

Admin Aqua: We sure didn’t make any friends at EXO’luXion…

Admin Pisces: Not at all.

Admin Aqua: But it’s always digital friendships. This would give old and new EXOLs a chance to understand each other as well.

Admin Pisces: Yes. It seems like that is still missing but there is potential because of the recent #WithLoveIEXOLs project. It’s the beginning of a new era for our fandom I hope

Admin Aqua: But that era is only between IEXOLs sadly. KEXOLs still don’t reach out as a whole. Yeah you’ll get some who will but there’s that superiority/exclusivity they have…

Admin Pisces: That’s who that one EXO-L was talking about and I knew it but I didn’t want to add to the “who are the real EXO-L” convos we were having because of the one twitter account that’s now been deleted

Admin Aqua: I figured. It’s true that there is a difference between being an EXO fan and an EXOL and I think we saw that at EXO’rDIUM in Newark…

Admin Aqua: And there are bandwaggoners that come in just because it’s “the trend.” If you don’t put in your research to me that says you’re not an EXOL. If you can’t tell them apart 1-2 months in, you aren’t an EXOL. If you only watch M/Vs and listen to their songs, you aren’t an EXOL.

Admin Aqua: EXOLs are genuinely invested in… well everything. Voting, album sales, fan projects, support projects, watch interviews, watch dramas/films, watch realty shows, watch variety shows, make fan art, create merchandise, celebrate member birthdays, know members by body part (ex. look at an ear and know it Baekhyun), know group/fandom jargon, know group/fandom inside jokes, etc. If you don’t do those things, at least a few of them, you can’t call yourself an EXOL.

Admin Aqua: Ijs…….

Admin Pisces: And those points are important. That’s one part of being an EXO-L. The next level to me means unity amongst the fandom. But there are so many “sub fandoms” within our fandom. Solo stans, OT8 stans, stans who ship, stans who engage in behavior that is dangerous to themselves and sometimes the members as well, stans who truly believe that they are going to marry one of the members, stans who believe they are currently in a relationship with the members, stans who are only here for the music but don’t actively participate in any of the other projects, stans who have been here since the beginning, stans who are coming into the fandom every day….Perhaps it’s wishful thinking to claim that’s EXOLs are a family as I know I often exclaim in a moment of pride on twitter. But the moments where that feels the most true are during comebacks, concert tours and award season. And to tack onto that I’d have to add that maybe when there are premieres for TV shows, films, music features, etc. That’s when it feels like we’re united for the most part. But even then…some of us are on our own wavelength and the conversations are limited to digital communications…and then there’s what we experienced at Newark of the stares…it’s like we were all attending the same concert because we all loved the group but we were all strangers to each other in person. It’s bizarre that we can shout the same exact fanchant but not look each other in the eye and greet each other just as passionately as we echo EXO during their final greeting of “EXO WE ARE ONE SARANGHAJA”